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Dreamfall Chapters

The Longest Journey

The Longest Journey was originally released back in 1999 when adventure games of this scope and quality were a rarity. I still have fond memories of the game. It had incredible production values, a captivating story and some of the best writing you could find in a video game. A sequel to the game was released in the year 2006. It took some steps forward by moving to a 3D engine and continuing in the steps of predecessor by retaining its level of writing and storytelling. In some areas it took some steps backward by introducing some superflous gameplay elements and ended up not quite achieving the coherence between it’s gameplay and plot like it should have. Both games were made at Funcom by the game director Ragnar Tornquist with his team there. In the years since Funcom focused work on MMOs like Conan and The Secret World. There didn’t seem any hope that Funcom would return to the world they had built. A world that still had many unanswered questions at the end of 2 games.

Kickstarter

If you dream the right dream, it becomes reality

Fast forward to 2013 and Kickstarter had become all the rage among many veteran game developers. I had been following Ragnar on twitter for a while with the hope that he would mention something about a new game in the series. Fans like me were delighted to know that Ragnar was going to leave Funcom and found his own studio, Red Thread Games. The first game to come out would be Dreamfall Chapters. A proper sequel by the original creator and his team. I didn’t even think twice before forking over the $20 for the privilege of supporting them and getting access to the full game on release. While I patiently waited for the game’s release and got a chance to attend GDC in 2013. From Ragnar’s twitter stream I realised that they had a booth there and I went to visit. I managed to get a photo with Ragnar and a chance to tell the team that I backed them on kickstarter and wish them good luck with the game.

Book 3

It’s 2015 and it’s time to talk about Dreamfall again. Dreamfall Chapters despite what was conveyed by the title was originally supposed to be released as one large game. Somewhere down the line the development team decided that releasing the game in episodes would work better. While I did enjoy the first 2 episodes I was still looking for the magic that I felt when I played The Longest Journey. With the release of Book 3 everything seems to be coming together. The cast of characters are now more firmly established. Major story revelations are starting to come through. Choices I made are beginning to reveal their consequences. Everything else that made the previous games continues to shine. Top notch voice acting, storytelling, writing and dialogs that stand out even among other forms of entertainment today. My favourite adventure games of all time has a bright future. If you have never played adventure games before. Dreamfall is a good place to start.